Halt! Or I'll shoot you with my pawn shop ticket! Wed Jun 28, 9:33 AM ET MANILA (Reuters) - Six police officers may lose their jobs for pawning their guns in the southern Philippines, where underfunded and poorly paid security forces are fighting Muslim and communist insurgencies. German Doria, police chief of the central region of Mindanao island, said Wednesday the incidents of government-issued guns being pawned came to light when the National Bureau of Investigation raided shops selling stolen goods in Tupi town. "What these police officers had done was tantamount to grave misconduct and they should be dismissed from the service," Doria told reporters, adding that he had ordered an inventory of guns issued to all officers in South Cotabato province. "How can police officers carry out their missions if they don't have guns?" The Philippines is recruiting at least 15,000 extra police officers and getting 120,000 new guns to help counter growing threats from communist rebels of the New People's Army (NPA). The Philippine National Police is getting about 30 percent of an additional budget of 1 billion pesos ($18.7 million) that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promised to release this month to hasten the defeat of the Maoist-led rebels in two years. The NPA -- feeding on problems of poverty, injustice and corruption -- has been fighting for nearly 40 years to overthrow the government. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and hurt investment in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries. Peace talks with the communists, brokered by Norway, stalled in 2004 when Manila refused to help persuade Washington and some European states to remove the NPA from terrorism blacklists.
